Girl's empowerment and well-being: A pathway to sustainable and smart cities

A pathway to sustainable and smart cities

UNFPA and SNEHA were involved in an 18 month long journey with young adolescent girls from the slum communities of Kalwa in the Thane district of Maharashtra. This document attempts to celebrate the spirit of that journey by sharing the processes involved and the innovations and stories of change that emerged at the individual level. The stories compiled are those where girls have felt empowered, stories where girls experienced joy and happiness, tales where they have made an attempt to bring about small changes in the community and have become agents of change. These stories were collected in the last four months of the programme, between January and April 2018. Some of these are about lives of individuals while others are based on discussions with small groups of girls.
These narratives aim to bring out the processes involved in implementing the programme. Consent of individuals was sought to include their stories, quotes and pictures.